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Wolves/Raptors Trade In The Works?

The Minnesota Timberwolves hold the highest draft pick in the team's history, selecting in the number two spot in the upcoming NBA draft. As is the luck of a franchise needing a bit of luck, they just missed out on the opportunity to draft in the number one slot, giving them even more options on draft night. However, with recent reports of Ricky Rubio finally ready to sign on the dotted line and join the team next year—if there is a season—it eases the pain of missing out on the top pick some and also helps aid in the decision making process.

After all the discussions and waiting for Rubio the past two seasons, you can expect he will receive as many of the minutes as he can handle. The Timberwolves have already discussed options to bring in another veteran point guard along with Luke Ridnour to help mentor Rubio during his first season in the league. That is, someone who would understand they would not receive much playing time behind both Rubio and Ridnour. That is one of the many reasons why Jonny Flynn is out there in trade rumors and it is expected he played his last game with the Timberwolves already.

This brings us back to the number two pick in the draft and what the Timberwolves should do with it.

Recent reports state the Timberwolves are in discussion with the Toronto Raptors regarding a deal which would send Jonny Flynn and the number two pick to Toronto for guard DeMar DeRozan and the number five selection. While the Timberwolves should continue their due diligence to see if they are able to get more from their assets than only DeRozan, if this is the best they can do, they should think long and hard about it.

Without question, the Timberwolves have a nice core of talented, young players. To name a few, Kevin Love, Michael Beasley, Wes Johnson and, apparently, Ricky Rubio. If they were able to add a player of DeRozan's athleticism and promise, it would be difficult to pass on it since he plays a position of need for the team. As a young player, he does have flaws in his game, such as his difficulty in shooting the three, but coming into his third year, he may be ready to completely break out.

Receiving a significant jump in playing time in his second season, DeRozan was able to bring the additional boost in production. He is shaping into a flat-out scorer, despite his limitations shooting the ball. The Timberwolves are coming off a season in which both Kevin Love and Michael Beasley made great strides in their own respective third seasons, so it is more than possible to imagine the same happening for DeRozan in Minnesota knowing his work ethic.

These recent reports also beg the question: what is the plan for the Timberwolves at the center position? Darko Milicic put up respectable numbers last year when properly focused and motivated, but the ability to project his production from game to game is nearly impossible. Nikola Pekovic showed progress throughout his rookie season and gave great effort, but still has a long ways to go in his development. While most teams in the NBA don't have a terribly imposing center dominating the ball, the Timberwolves can get away with adding big bodies to the mix, but do they really think Anthony Randolph can play a majority of his minutes at that position?

Both the shooting guard and center positions are the glaring weaknesses for the Timberwolves, but with the players they already have on the perimeter it may make more sense to address the center position first. Some reports have the Timberwolves trading down in the draft to pick up Enes Kanter to play the position, while also picking up any of a number of unnamed veterans and unknown positions as well.

This is why the DeRozan trade would make sense for the Timberwolves. If the trade goes down as currently discussed, the Timberwolves would be able to address both positions. DeRozan immediately takes over the shooting guard position and Minnesota could take a bit of a flyer on Kanter at the number five selection, adding to their center position. This could give the Timberwolves a hypothetical lineup that would look like this:

Of course, there are many areas of flux in that rotation depending on how training camp would shake out and which players play their way into a starting spot or getting big minutes off the bench. However, as is well-known, draft days for the Minnesota Timberwolves are anything but ordinary. David Kahn may have something up his sleeve where he believes he is pulling one over on the rest of the league, but by moving on this trade - if it goes down as rumored - he could add more talent to his team. He would solidify roles more than they were last year as well, allowing the players a bit more comfort on the court.

More deals may present themselves before the draft or on draft day, so the Timberwolves should continue to shop around. However, if this is the deal that occurs, it would not be the worst thing for Minnesota as they continue to attempt to rebuild

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Re: Wolves/Raptors Trade In The Works?

Will Kanter be there at 5?

I like Derozan. I also like Derrick Williams at 2.

Would the T Wolves take BRush or D Jones and the 15 pick for Anthony Randolph and the 20? I'd do that. It think at 20 you can still get a quality player about equal to whats there at 15, from a Pacers standpoint, depending on how the draft plays out.

Imagine Selby, Marshon Brooks, or Kenneth Faried AND Anthony Randolph for BRush and the #15.

Minne gets their pick of the next group at 15 and BRush, while alleviating the crowd at PF.

Re: Wolves/Raptors Trade In The Works?

Would the T Wolves take BRush or D Jones and the 15 pick for Anthony Randolph and the 20? I'd do that. It think at 20 you can still get a quality player about equal to whats there at 15, from a Pacers standpoint, depending on how the draft plays out.

Imagine Selby, Marshon Brooks, or Kenneth Faried AND Anthony Randolph for BRush and the #15.

Minne gets their pick of the next group at 15 and BRush, while alleviating the crowd at PF.

You never know. Some mocks have him droping to 6th but I think he goes before that. Wouldn't be the firts time someone droped in the draft a couple of spots.

Re: Wolves/Raptors Trade In The Works?

This would be a pretty good trade, but I'd hate to see two potential separate trades from happening. DeRozan is way better (and will get even better) than Rush, so in addition to the 5 pick, I don't think the Pacers would have anything to match as far as value. This also sounds like the Wolves will be keeping Rubio, so there's even less of a chance he'll be traded for anything we have. That is, unless the Wolves draft a readied point guard who will be able to replace Rubio and Flynn in the lineup.

Re: Wolves/Raptors Trade In The Works?

Sigh....Minnesota looking like a real team on the move now. Pacers, seem stuck in neutral.

Because of rumors? Any time the Pacers are involved in rumors the deals never pan out, so I'm fine with things being quiet right now. When a team's business is out there in the rumor mill the deals seem to always fall through.

Re: Wolves/Raptors Trade In The Works?

You never know. Some mocks have him droping to 6th but I think he goes before that. Wouldn't be the firts time someone droped in the draft a couple of spots.

Draftexpress guy, Givoney said on a podcast that he watched 4 prep games against D2 level competion types by Kanter. He said he didn't look very interested and didn't dominate like you'd expect, low energy, etc. Just 4 prep games, but still with the limited exposure teams have to him, who knows what matters. Givoney goes on to say he has NBA athleticism and good hands, so who knows.

I haven't seen one thing on how his individual workouts are going. He looked big and strong and athletic enough at the combine, but its really hard to tell with big men watching the combine, at least for me.

Re: Wolves/Raptors Trade In The Works?

I'm not mad that the Pacers aren't rumored in a deal with the Wolves or anything, I'd say that we're better off than both the Raptors AND the Wolves no matter what type of trades the two teams could possibly do with each other. We're not only better, we're WAAAYYYYY better.

Re: Wolves/Raptors Trade In The Works?

I'm not mad that the Pacers aren't rumored in a deal with the Wolves or anything, I'd say that we're better off than both the Raptors AND the Wolves no matter what type of trades the two teams could possibly do with each other. We're not only better, we're WAAAYYYYY better.

I don't think we're "WAAAYYYYY" better than the Wolves and Raptors. Despite wins and losses, both teams have some assets that are very valuable, and bound to turn them into dominant teams of the future. Just because we're winning now doesn't mean the team as a whole is better.

Between limited playing time and limited production, Price, Stephenson, Jones, Rush and McRoberts are not on tiers as high as other players who would be playing in the same spot. Love, Randolph, and Beasley are three much better players than Tyler Hansbrough and Josh McRoberts.

All three teams have massive potential, especially heading into the next couple of seasons. But I can't agree that, just because we battled for an eighth seed, that we have a way better team than those others. Yes, the others' records were awful, but we would have been just as doomed had we not fired He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

Re: Wolves/Raptors Trade In The Works?

I don't think we're "WAAAYYYYY" better than the Wolves and Raptors. Despite wins and losses, both teams have some assets that are very valuable, and bound to turn them into dominant teams of the future. Just because we're winning now doesn't mean the team as a whole is better.

Between limited playing time and limited production, Price, Stephenson, Jones, Rush and McRoberts are not on tiers as high as other players who would be playing in the same spot. Love, Randolph, and Beasley are three much better players than Tyler Hansbrough and Josh McRoberts.

All three teams have massive potential, especially heading into the next couple of seasons. But I can't agree that, just because we battled for an eighth seed, that we have a way better team than those others. Yes, the others' records were awful, but we would have been just as doomed had we not fired He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

I wouldn't say that Anthony Randolph is close to McRoberts or Hansbrough. Randolph hasn't accomplished anything yet except being benched most of the time in Golden State and then getting benched in New York. Everyone says he's got so much potential, but his time will soon run out as he hasn't produced YET. I haven't ever bought into A.R. and I don't think I ever will.. I'd take either one of Hansbrough and McRoberts 10 times out of 10 over Randolph. There's even a ton of D-League guys right now that I'd rather have than Anthony Randolph. I also think he's immature based off of stories I've heard from his Warriors days, which I also think is holding him back. Beasley is finally coming out of this same stage and of course love is a monster, but they are still nowhere near our team I'd say. We actually have a somewhat decent bench right now, plus all of our young guys are all very good and show improvement--Minnesota and Toronto have went a little backwards it seems over the past year or 2 rather than moving forward with the teams they've both decided to build around (of course losing Bosh never helped Toronto lol).

Re: Wolves/Raptors Trade In The Works?

I think Biyombo would be the best pick. Fit perspective, he makes the most sense.
Or Kahwi Leonard. They could move Love to 5, and play Beasley and Leonard together, with Leonard defending the best opposing 3 or 4.

I don't love Kanter for Minnie. That seems like the Memphis frontline with less size, and Kanter hasn't really played for two years, it's a bit scary.

Valanciunas does not seem a great fit either - defensive energy wise he'd be a great fit, but you'd prefer a shot blocker next to Love. And you'd want someone more ready, not another project. Besides, he and Love may kill each other fighting for rebounds.
Also, the next obvious step for Valanciunas would be developing a solid jumper and pick and pop game, since he already has the range and he's good at pick and roll. I'm not sure Minnie would focus on that with him, they got plenty of it already, so he probably does not reach his potential there.

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Re: Wolves/Raptors Trade In The Works?

If that trade went down, I would be on the phone in a millisecond with Toronto seeing if they would take the #15 plus Brandon Rush for Ed Davis. Rush would fill their SG spot after Toronto focuses on filling their needs at PG. With DeRozan gone, that leaves a large void on a team that could really use the defense and outside shooting. We bring in Ed Davis to play PF for us. He rebounds the ball well and blocks shots, without needing the ball in his hands to be effective.

And I am a BRush fan. Probably his only supporter left. I want to keep him around past this year.

Re: Wolves/Raptors Trade In The Works?

Toronto needs to keep as much talent as they can and address their needs with a big frontcourt player or PG. If anything, move Bargnani over to SF, though I like Johnson for them there. Ship Andrea and Jose for a real PG and get away from the European/non-tough/no-defense style.